Nurungukal….2…cotd…

             Ammuchechi’s documentation of the details of the yearly ritual conducted by her family in the Malayalam month ‘Kumbham’  is a piece of literature which I think the family can boast of. As there was no earlier written evidences about the origin of the event she had based the description on the basis of details passed on  mouth to mouth by her elders. Yet it has attained  authenticity of the facts described, because of her faultless comprehension of the order of events that took place traditionally. I would like to place on record here my appreciation and respects for her tenacity in offering even the minute details of the ritual  as in a record for reference for posterity. It is more or less like a code manual.

        The deity is worshipped in the form of Bhadrakali who is identified as a ferocious Goddess. Her Divine presence is felt at three places [ Edom,kovilakam and mohoorkappil] as revealed by astrologers in a Swarna Prasnam.  Edom is the ancestral Tharavd of Moopil Niars,Kovilakam is the place where Kottayum Raja used to camp during his sojourns in Pozhuthana and Mohoor Kappil is a sacred grove on a nearby hillock.It is believed that it would have originated at least about 2000 years ago. But the age of the existing trees in the grove was assessed by a forester as about 500 years and so we may have to either guess the age of the ritual as 500 years or has to doubt that the earlier trees might have withered by age. But Ammuchechy had put forth a convincing argument to believe the age as around 2000 years on the basis of some of the remnants of clay idols dug out at Mohoor Kappil. The materials used to mould the idols were a mixture known as  KOOTTU SARKARA which was popular in those days.

       Ammuchechy had recorded that Shree Veera Marthanda Kerala Varma Pazhassiraja had fought battles with the British stationed at the Kovilakam. And it was his practise to worship his beloved ancestral Gods viz. Shree PorkaliBhagavathy,Kirathamoorthy,Shree Dhara Sasthavu,Ganapathy etc. …contd…

Nurungukal…2…contd…

        The Kottayum Raja who was the ruler of Pozhuthana and adjacent areas was fond of hunting wild animals. He used to make periodical visits to the forest which had an abundant wealth of many animals, especially tigers,bears, elephants etc.. He used to camp here for days with his retinue of servants and soldiers. During such hunting sprees it was his custom to take an Idol of his favourite Goddess, shree Porkali Bhagavathy for conducting his daily poojas. He used to camp at the same locations  which were the most suitable for worshipping. One such place was at the foot hills of a hillock in Pozhuthana , which is known as Anomkunnu. The location  known as Anoth was ideal, serene, isolated and near to a river and blessed with a perennial water fall.The Idol was housed in a thatched shed popularly called as Kovilakam.

      There is a very interesting story told by a leader [Moopan] of an adhivasi community about what prompted the king to select this place as his base camp. It goes like this….

       During one of his hunting episodes the king got isolated from his retinue and lost the way. Those days the area was a thick rain forest intertwined by a river and marshy lands. He wandered for hours and hours and was tired. The sound of the water flow in the river prompted him to take a dip to get rid of the tiredness and quench the thirst. As he was resting on the banks happened to see an unusually long human hair floating in the water. He was sure that it was that of a lady and he guessed that she would be very pretty. Once again he tried to gain the direction and then he met with a young village damsel who was carrying a bamboo container full of honey. After introducing him,  politely requested her to part with a small portion of the honey to get rid of his tiredness. The young lady hesitated but succumbed to the repeated appeal. After taking the sweet honey he wanted to know about her and knew that she belonged to an adhivasi family living near by. As the king was infatuated in her he accompanied her to the hamlet. This tribe found their livelihood in agriculture and paddy cultivation. The king spent a few days with her. As a mark of gratitude he assigned a vast land to the family.It was during this sojourn he set up the Kovilakam for stay and praying during his future trips and as time passed this place attained the status of a place exclusively for worshipping by a prominent Nair family in the vicinity…..contd…

Nurungukal…2…contd…

    My first meeting with Ammuchehy was a few days before my marriage. She, accompanied by my sister-in-law made a visit to Ponani to fine tune the formalities of our nuptial ceremony. She was particular about some customary practises, such as offering the Pudava in a Thali etc.. My mother who was well versed with, in the order of events and their relevance while conducting a marriage, purposefully pretended ignorance and agreed to what ever the visitors wished. But she was much impressed by the knowledge of Ammu chechy in such matters. There after when ever we met I used to enjoy her company and took pleasure in gathering  interesting tips, especially in matters connected with Puranas.  

        It was from her I knew about the history of Moopil Nairs of Wayanad. This area was formerly ruled by a dynasty called as Kottayum Rajas of Noth Kerala, before the annexation by the British from Tippu. For the purpose of efficient administration the Raja maintained a number of chieftains at strategic places and they were called as Moopil Nairs and each such families were known as Edom related with the name of the locality viz. Pozhuthana Edom, Kalpetta Edom etc. In those days Pozhuthana was a very strategic location as it was very close to Lakkidy, the gate way to Wayanad on the hills of Western ghats.  The Moopil Nairs of Pozhuthana attained a special status among the close circles of the Raja and were bestowed with great extent of forest and agricultural land. The area was so vast . As a result  the management was difficult and later, during the British rule the family had to part with chunks of their domain to East India Co. on lease under the pretext of development, although the main intention of the Company was to plunder the forest wealth, timber, ivory etc. In due course of time they cleared the forests and shipped logs and logs of wood, especially rose wood which were so huge , beyond any stretch of imagination, to England. The existing road passing through Pozhuthana was made by them mainly to transport the logs to Kozhikode for shipment. The road was then known as Pandimottom road.And once upon a time bullock carts were frequenting this route……cntd…..